Britain's Got Talent wins ratings race against The Voice

Dancing act Hot Gusset performed on the first show of the seventh season of Britain's Got Talent

Britain's Got Talent returned to ITV with over 10 million viewers, beating its Saturday night rival The Voice.

The BBC singing show's third episode was watched by 6.7m viewers.

Simon Cowell's annual talent contest launched its seventh series with regular judges Amanda Holden, Alesha Dixon and comedian David Walliams.

A shadow theatre troupe from Hungary and a 14-year-old stand up with cerebral palsy were the stars of the show's first week.

It took a 41.5% share of the audience and nearly 4 million more viewers than The Voice.

The two shows have competed for viewers since last year when the BBC launched the singing competition starring Jessie J, Will.i.am, Danny O'Donoghue and Tom Jones as judges.

The BBC announced recently it will move The Voice to a later time of 20:20 BST from Saturday 20 April to avoid clashing with the ITV show.

A BBC spokesperson said: "We are trying to avoid overlaps so have moved later in the best interest of viewers, following ITV's move last week to create a clash."

It will now overlap with Britain's Got Talent for just 10 minutes.

The Voice's latest series ratings are down nearly 2 million from last year.